Crackers are a different story. Not only is there fat in the dough, but they typically have a spray oil, too. “Hydrogenation of fats builds stability, but hydrogenation creates trans fatty acids. The spray oil that goes onto crackers is put on at a high percentage, so fat grams are a factor in that application,” says Lawrence. He recommends high-oleic oils such as sunflower or canola, or a low-linolenic soybean oil. New oilseed breeding technologies have improved their stability.
Pie crusts require a solid shortening, where it plays a major role. “You need a certain level of saturation to provide the flakiness that is so desired in pie crust,” says Bettler. “We have had renewed interest for our animal-fat product line—specifically lard, which is still today the best pie-crust shortening. Lard is naturally low in trans and does not need further processing to perform in a variety of bakery applications. In addition, the level of saturates in lard is lower than many conventional and even low-trans shortenings.”
It’s important to consider how and when the shortening is added during mixing. To reduce trans, in tortillas, mixing the fat system with the flour first and then adding the water, or adding the ingredients all at the same time, “had a major impact in the turnout of those tortillas,” Bettler says.
Palm in hand
Most bakery applications that require a solid fat use palm shortening. Lawrence notes that solid fats provide creaming properties at room temperature, and palm oil is the simplest solution “Since palm oil is solid at room temperature,” he says, “you get good creaming properties.”
Manufacturers have had to compensate for certain palm-oil attributes. In a process with a temperature drop, palm tends to become brittle quickly, a critical problem in puff-pastry production. Puff-pastry contains a dough, and a roll-in fat. “It is cooled so that the texture can develop at a lower temperature,” says Gerald McNeill, Ph.D., R&D director, Loders Croklaan, Channahon, IL. “This is part of the traditional process. What tends to happen when you lower the temperature of palm oil products, it tends to get very hard and brittle very quickly. That’s one of the things to watch out for. I think anything that has saturated fats is going to have a hardening problem as you cool them down. In the case of palm oil, you get around that by blending different fractions.”